Federal forces have killed 22 suspected members of the brutal Zetas drug gang in a three-day operation in northern Mexico, near the US border, an official said on Monday.
Soldiers and police backed by helicopters targeted some 200 members of the Zetas around the town of San Carlos, 90 miles (150 kilometers) from the US border, using information from a local gang leader arrested on Friday.
"There were 22 killed between Friday and Sunday in the same community," said Jorge Domene, security spokesman for the state of Nuevo Leon.
The Mexican army has targeted the Zetas in several operations in the past week in the northern border states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, where the gang is believed to hold training camps.
The Zetas, who started out as hitmen working for the Gulf cartel in the 1990s, have been accused of killings, kidnappings and macabre displays of brutality that have made them one of the most feared gangs in Mexico.